The greatest power in the universe is LOVE. Yet, surprisingly, what inspires most people to be motivated is FEAR. Think about that for a minute or two and remember the last time you were inspired to be motivated to achieve something.

FEAR ULTIMATELY DESTROYS OUR HEALTH

While fear will get you motivated to lose the weight, FEAR will ultimately destroy your TOTAL HEALTH. When we EXIST in chronic fear our bodies are continuously bathed in adrenaline and cortisol. We all know that while these chemicals are a necessity in the face of ACTUAL danger, chronic exposure to these chemicals causes weight gain, insomnia, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, liver damage, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, chronic inflammation, etc. Thus, chronic fear is not conducive to our TOTAL health.

GET OUT OF THE FEAR STATE

Back to basics, fear is an emotion and a feeling. Remember, we create our emotions and feelings by what we believe and think. In other words, we are 100% responsible for creating our emotional state and by default our feeling responses. Let us say you believe there is a threat, real or imagined, the body CANNOT tell the difference and you believe, YOU CANNOT COPE. The next thing you do is employ your problematic pattern of thinking, which could be a mixture of:

• overgeneralization
• catastrophizing
• emotional reasoning
• should thinking
• polarized thinking (all-or-nothing thinking)

Does any of this ring a bell? We must renew our minds, cleanse our hearts, and purify our souls, which can only be accomplished by a Higher Power. In my case, that Higher Power is the Holy Spirit. Yet, it is not a one and done solution. In every moment we are tempted by our flesh, the world, and the devil. On our own, we would eventually cave, because willpower eventually runs out. We know that the power of the Holy Spirit is infinite and abundant. Finally, fear is often a result of a mindset that rejects and a malfunctioning G.P.S.

LOVE ALWAYS CONQUERS FEAR

Everyone knows this and yet many still struggle to take advantage of the benefits of love. Why do we not give love a try or a chance? The answer goes back to another lie we are tightly holding on to. That lie is two-fold: we are not lovable, and we are not worthy/deserving of love. Now I want you to STOP and really EXAMINE YOUR STORY.

1. You are lovable [for God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son to save us – that includes you].
2. You are worthy/deserving simply because God CHOSE to create you in your mother’s womb [God does not make mistakes].

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CHOICES

You are a child of love, created by love, for love. There is no other way to put this – we ALL need love. Realize that the gift of love has already been freely and graciously offered to us; however, many of us struggle to appreciate this and fail to allow love to work in our lives because we REJECT love. The following are reasons a person may be rejecting love:

1. Anger
2. Beliefs that are not grounded in truth
3. Guilt
4. Pride
5. Shame
6. Unforgiveness

Which of the above reason(s) applies to you? Change is never possible if you do NOT know what needs to be changed. Understand, YOU are the only one that can do the internal work to gain clarity about the ROOT CAUSE of your dis-ease (disease). Remember, whether it is physical, financial, or psychological, it starts with a spiritual misalignment.